The last few days have presented a mixture of emotions for Canadian tennis star Leylah Fernandez.
On Sunday (July 27), she secured victory over Anna Kalinskaya in the Washington Open final to take home the biggest title of her career to date.
Whilst winning the 500 event was a memorable moment for the 22-year-old, celebrations were cut short.
The quick turnaround of the WTA schedule meant Fernandez flew straight out to the latest Masters 1000 event in her hometown of Montreal.
Her first-round match at the Canadian Open with Maya Joint took place on Tuesday morning (July 29), and the lack of adequate preparation and rest time showed, as Fernandez was defeated 6-4 6-1.
For Fernandez, this latest defeat would have been devastating as she was not able to excel in front of her home crowd, and the winning feeling she had from Washington dissolved in just 48 hours.
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When speaking with reporters after her loss in Montreal, Fernandez revealed that she put in a request to play in Tuesday’s night session.
However, the 22-year-old explained: “I received a lot of promises from scheduling about giving me maybe the night match, and I did not receive that.”
“That hurt because I was looking forward to be playing at night, but I guess it’s little political issues. The sleep schedule was kind of out of whack, so it was a little hard to recuperate.”
The reason Fernandez could not be allocated the night slot on Tuesday was because WTA rules state all first-round matches must be played before the second-round gets underway.
Tournament staff were willing to give the world no. 24 the night slot, but the WTA prevented that from happening as it would simply defy the body’s rules.
Schedule concerns remain in tennis
Fernandez’ latest defeat highlights the issue growing in tennis over the scheduling of tournaments.
Players feel as if there is a lack of adequate recuperation time between events and that is preventing them from performing at their highest level in key tournaments.
Top ranked players on the ATP and WTA tour can potentially skip tournaments here and there, if they are carrying a small injury or feel fatigued, as they have enough points to maintain their ranking.
World no. 2, Carlos Alcaraz, confirmed he would not be playing at the 1000 ATP event in Toronto due to a lack of rest time after the grass court season.
However, not all players have that same privilege, as missing events can see their rankings plummet and decrease their chances of being seeded for the biggest events.
Subsequently, players that go deep in tournaments like Fernandez did in DC, have no option but to compete without much preparation time in the following events, and the result is often an early exit.
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